In this IP-dominated age, it is utterly gratifying to see the original murder mystery Knives Out become one of the most sought-after franchises. Rian Johnson's 2019 film and its sequel, Glass Onion, are inspired by the work of Agatha Christie, but imbued with a modern sensibility and style.

"Knives Out" follows Benoit Blanc, a brilliant detective, on a case involving a motley group of haves and have-nots. In the first film, he investigates the death of a wealthy patriarch whose strained family relations make all of his relatives suspects. In "The Glass Onion," Bran is invited to an island by a tech tycoon for a murder mystery game that turns out to be real (and deadly).

Netflix reportedly paid $469 million for the rights to two sequels to "Knives Out. The Glass Onion is the first of these, and a second is supposed to be produced. However, it may be several years before director Johnson gets around to it. Until then, see seven ensemble-driven murder mystery films like "Knives Out" and "Glass Onion."

Plus, if you have the time, check out these great cop shows available for streaming right now.

Rian Johnson brought his murder mystery experience to the table with Knives Out. His directorial debut, Brick, is a whodunit set in a high school. Instead of gangs, the film features cliques, opaque '30s jargon, and a lone wolf serving as a hard-boiled detective.

Brendan Fry (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is upset when his ex-girlfriend Emily (Emilie de Lavin) calls him for help. The next day he finds her dead body and vows that he will solve her murder. To do so, Brendan must decipher Emily's last mysterious message and surf the social hierarchy of the high school. The clues lead him to a local drug lord with the nickname "Ping" (Lukas Haas).

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The big screen adaptation of the classic murder mystery board game failed in theaters but found new life as a cult favorite. The film is beloved for its candy-ass sense of humor, witty and often racy dialogue, scenery-gobbling performances, and maddening multiple endings

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Six invited guests host a dinner party at a secluded New England mansion. They are all given false names: Mrs. Peacock, Colonel Mustard, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, Professor Plum, and Miss Scarlett. the seventh guest, Mr. Body (Lee Ving), is found dead and the other guests become suspects. They start pointing fingers at each other as the police arrive.

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Agatha Christie's mystery novels were a source of inspiration for Johnson: the first is Kenneth Branagh's 2017 version of Murder on the Orient Express (the 1947 version is also very good). Like Johnson, Branagh fills out his ensemble with big stars like Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Willem Defoe, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Johnny Depp.

Branagh himself plays Hercule Poirot, the famous Belgian detective, with a huge mustache. Poirot is on the luxurious Orient Express and is asked to solve the murder of a wealthy American. He interrogates passengers and crew members and tries to find the murderer before the killer reappears.

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The second Agatha Christie film is "Death on the Nile," a 1978 adaptation by this gorgeous star (Branagh also remade it in 2022). The cast is stellar: Maggie Smith, Angela Lansbury, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, and David Deven. Peter Ustinov plays Poirot, who happens to be on a luxury cruise on the Nile when the newlywed heir is murdered.

Poirot takes on the case with his trusted friend Colonel Race (Niven). They discover many of the steamboat's passengers had motives to kill women, including her maid, a covetous socialite and a communist writer. And, of course, her husband and ex-fiancé are not to be overlooked.

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Like "Knives Out" and "Glass Onion," "Gosford Park" is a gorgeous play with a big-name cast. Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Charles Dance, Kelly MacDonald, Richard E. Grant, and more.

Robert Altman's satirical whodunit focuses on the clash of classes between the upper class elite and their servants who spend weekends at an English country estate. Everyone is hiding some secret, be it financial, sexual, criminal, or all three. So when one of the guests is murdered, everyone becomes a suspect

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Murder mysteries are bound to have twists and turns, and "The Usual Suspects" has one of the best "red herrings" in film. Twenty-seven people died in a ship fire, and one of the two survivors was Roger "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey), a disabled con man. During a police interrogation, Verbal tells the story of how he and his associates came to be on the boat.

The week before, Barbal claims that a crime lord named Keyser Soze had arranged for a group of five criminals to rob him. Soze is considered a mythical figure in the underworld, but things turn deadly when Barbal and his partners close in on his true identity. But as the police and FBI soon discover, nothing is as it seems.

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As satisfying, funny, and clever as the adult titles on this list, here is a more family-friendly ensemble mystery. It's an animated film set in a city called Zootopia, populated by anthropomorphic mammals. Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) is proud to be the first rabbit to join the police force, but soon learns that enforcing the law is no picnic.

When an otter is one of the latest mammals to go missing, Judy volunteers for the case. Unfortunately, it involves teaming up with sly fox con man Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). As they follow clues and talk to various mammals of interest, they uncover a conspiracy that is bigger than they ever imagined.

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